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Serco reaps benefits of Intelenet acquisition

Ten months after acquiring Indian business processing outsourcing (BPO) company Intelenet Global Services , UK-based Serco Group is close to winning two contracts from unnamed clients worth $1.3 billion in the segment.

Tom Riall, CEO Designate of Serco Global Services, an entity carved out of the services and consulting group on April 1, said the company has emerged as the preferred bidder for the projects.

It will announce the first contract win, from UK's public sector, next week and the second, from a private company in the country, towards the end of the month. He did not divulge further details of the orders.

"I don't think Intelenet would have been able to bag these contracts on its own and nor would Serco," Riall told reporters in Mumbai on Thursday.

Serco Group, listed on the London Stock Exchange, paid nearly Rs 2,800 crore for Intelenet, which had the biggest domestic BPO business among services providers. This was the largest acquisition deal in the Indian BPO space.

"The integration of Intelenet with Serco is significantly done and the transition has been seamless," he added.

Serco's other recent acquisitions in the BPO segment include The Listening Company of the UK and Australia's Excelior. About 40 per cent of Serco Global's business comes from government clients.

Serco Global is looking at revenues of $1 billion in 2012.

"About 11 per cent of that will come from services offered to Indian companies," said Susir Kumar, Executive Chairman Designate of Serco Global Services, who earlier used to head Intelenet. India accounts for nearly 35,000 of Serco Global's worldwide headcount of 50,000.

India, whose BPO sector revenues in 2011-12 are estimated at less than $16 billion, has been facing stiff competition from other low-cost markets like the Philippines, which has already gone past India to become the top destination for voice-based operations.